England’s lowest position in the 23 years of the rankings came in February 1996 when they were 27th. However, they only played friendlies in the run‑up to Euro 96, which affected their ranking as those games did not count as much as competitive ones.

Today’s rankings reflect the top three at the World Cup with Germany at No1 followed by Argentina and Holland. Brazil are down to seventh while deposed champions Spain fell from top spot to eighth.